Teen in 'murder-for-hire' case sentenced to life in prison without parole

Andrew Lavender, 19, is sentenced to life in prison without parole. At 16, Lavender was a contract killer, prosecutors said. Lavender was found guilty of fatally shooting Ceran Lipscomb, 36, four years ago near a West End park.
The Enquirer/Carrie Cochran

Andrew Lavender stands before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Charles Kubicki Wednesday before he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. At 16, Lavender was a contract killer, prosecutors said. Lavender was found guilty of fatally shooting Ceran Lipscomb, 36, four years ago near a West End park. A jury convicted him last month of aggravated murder.(Photo: The Enquirer/Carrie Cochran)

After Andrew Lavender was convicted last month for what has been called a contract killing, he talked to his mother about retaliating against the people who testified against him, prosecutors said.

“That’s the kind of person he is,” Assistant Prosecutor David Prem said at a sentencing Wednesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. “He is a danger to our community.”

Judge Charles Kubicki then sentenced Lavender – who was 16 at the time of the killing – to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lavender showed no emotion as Kubicki imposed the sentence.

Kubicki talked about a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says a defendant’s youth must be considered for the purposes of sentencing. But the facts of the case, Kubicki said, warranted the maximum penalty.

“I would note that murder-for-hire is a particularly troubling motivation,” he said.

It is still not known who paid Lavender to kill 36-year-old Ceran Lipscomb in August 2014.

Around the time of the execution-style killing, according to prosecutors, Lavender said he was “coming into some big money.”

“I’m fittin' to get a body on me,” he said in a text message in the weeks before the killing.

A few days after, prosecutors said, he was “talking about buying a Cadillac.”

On Wednesday, Lipscomb’s uncle, Lester Jones, said he hoped Lavender will find a way to do something positive while in prison.

“He went down the wrong way,” Jones said. “Another young man in the system. He had a whole life ahead of him.”

Lavender's statements about retaliation were made in phone calls from the Hamilton County Justice Center, Prem told Kubicki.

Prem said police have been monitoring his calls since a jury in December found him guilty of charges including aggravated murder.

Lavender, now 19, was arrested the same month as the killing. He initially was charged in juvenile court. In October 2014, because of his age and the seriousness of the crime, the case was transferred to Common Pleas Court, for him to stand trial as an adult.

The case was delayed after the Ohio Supreme Court said last year that the mandatory transfer of juvenile cases is unconstitutional. A juvenile court judge had to first evaluate whether juvenile or adult court would be more suitable.